______________________
by T. M. Sabaratnam
(April 21, Mullative, Sri Lanka Guardian) The first two generations of independent Sri Lanka were still struggling under the influence of foreign rule and like most Asian societies the mental colonization achieved by the British could not be eradicated from the minds of people fully. People still thought like clerks waiting to follow someone's orders.
We left original thinking and started making experiments following Western models of development. The social and cultural differences between the West and Sri Lanka led to the failure of many of these schemes.
With more and more doors opened for Western investors, Sri Lankans are merely becoming clerks in the hands of the investors. People working for multinationals get huge salaries, cars and many perks but lack any authority to make decisions. They are the working class in the eyes of the investors.
This time the colonization is in the minds of Sri Lankans if not at the political level. Western societies were pushing their lifestyle through the media especially films and television and all international brands are available in the local market affecting local goods severely. We are finding more pizzerias and burger joints than places selling authentic local food.
What we, in Sri Lanka, are getting is merely experience of using expensive international branded products and creating a wide economic divide among the citizens. The average Sri Lankan dreams of making his children great by pushing them into engineering colleges, computer science training, and medical studies to make money, to travel abroad and live his/her life in a style that cannot be even dreamt of, as an average Sri Lankan.
Today the kids know more of Valentines Day than Vesak or Diwali.
They are representing freedom in terms of what they eat, wear, think and read.
More and more elected representatives and public servants are visiting developed countries to follow the model of development from providing amenities to the beautification of cities.
What we see in Sri Lanka today is like what happened in Latin America in the late seventies and early eighties. We saw what happened to them in 10 to 15 years later. We may head towards such downfall as well. Even if we do not fall, we definitely might degenerate as a society if we do not teach original thinking to our children.
The new liberalism and economic reforms should lead us into original thinking and action, rather than more and more dependency on the west.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
Post a Comment